C152 10/19/58
© Project Winsome Publishers, 2000

"REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE"
Dr. John Allan Lavender
Ex. 20:13; Mk .12:31
The language of the sixth commandment is negative -- "Thou shalt not kill."
The spirit of the sixth commandment is positive -- "Thou shalt love."

Earlier in his ministry Jesus had radically increased the implications of the Ten Commandments when, in his Sermon on the Mount, he singled out several of the Old Testament laws and brought their meaning up-to-date. Six times in that one sermon he said,
"Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old times . . . but I say unto you . . ."

In each case he added something to the Old Testament teaching. He did not say less, he said more. He did not lower the standards, he raised them. Take our text for instance. Jesus said --
"Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill;
And who ever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgement; But I say unto you,
that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
judgement; And whosoever shall call his brother, Raca (meaning the fool) shall
be in danger of hellfire" (Mt. 5:21,22).

Instead of limiting the law of killing to an outward act, Jesus went on to include the inward attitudes of anger, hatred, and disrespect, from which the outward acts spring. These, he said, are just as much murder as if one were to plunge a dagger into the heart of his fellow.

A little later in the same sermon he said --
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate
thy enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you"
(Mt. 5:43-44).

Thus in a few pungent paragraphs Jesus utterly altered the implications of the sixth commandment and made it clear that while its language is negative, "Thou shalt not kill," its spirit is positive, "Thou shalt love."

How, and to what degree are we to love? Again our Lord provides the answer --
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
According to Jesus, self-love is to be the thermostat which controls your emotional reactions to those about you. You are to love others as you love yourself.

Perhaps, then, you see the significance of the title I have given to this message on the sixth commandment: "Remember Who You Are." For--
if you are on speaking terms with yourself,
if you have a healthy respect for yourself,
if you accept yourself in the same way God accepts you,
if you love yourself with the same love God gives you,
then you will be incapable of the inward emotions of anger, hatred, and disrespect from which the outward acts of violence and murder stem.

"To thine own self be true" said Shakespeare. "And it must follow as the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." Remember who you are! Remember first of all that --

You Are a Creation of God.
If you will pause sometime to analyze your trouble, you will come to the amazing discovery that most of them are the result, not of thinking too highly of yourself, but of thinking too cheaply of yourself.

Over the past few decades mankind has been deluged with the philosophies of Darwin and Nietzsche which make him little more than parasites living off the epidermis of the earth.

Man has been told that he is the product of the slime, the ooze, and the mud.
He has been linked to the bug, the worm, and the brute. As a result, he has all but forgotten that he was made in the image of God, "a little lower than the angels." Genesis 1:26 declares,
"And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let
him have dominion over the fish in the sea, over the foul of the air and
over all the earth."

My friend, you are not a product of nature's assembly line, you were made by God. You are a divine creation, magnificent and mysterious. Not a little lower than the ants, but a little lower than the angels! You must learn to treat yourself accordingly.

One of the great works of Donatello is his statue of "A Boy." When the masterpiece was being set-up at a recent art exhibit in the east, a workman placed a series of lights around the base of the statue, shining up into the boy's face. However, this completely distorted the artist's handiwork and made the boy look like a moron. The worker moved the lights about, trying for a better effect without much success. Finally he placed a single spotlight high above the statue shining down like a ray of sunshine upon the boy's countenance. It was then that the genius of Donatello was revealed. For, when the workman looked up into the statue, he perceived that,
"The boy had the face of an angel."

It's the same with you. When you look at yourself (and others) from a purely human point of view, it is easy to feel that you are not worth much. Like Paul, the things you want to do you don't do, and the things you don't want to do, you do. There is so much of the sinner in the best of us that it is easy to become discouraged and to think you are really not worth while.

But, when you see yourself (and others) from the vantage point of God, when you see yourself with the light of heaven streaming down upon your countenance, then you know that, even though you have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, you still stand at the crest of his creative accomplishments.

Of no other creature has it been said --
"In the image of God created he him."
Of no other being has God said --
"Let him have dominion over the earth."
Man is unique in the fact that to him and to him alone has been given "the breath of life" that is, the quality of immortality.

When God made you he made more than a body, he made "a living soul." Oh, my friend, just to be a human being is to be something wonderful indeed. It sets you apart from the brute and the beast. It makes you something more than a conglomeration of chromosomes and genes. It distinguishes you as a special creation of God. Divine in your origin. Wondrous in your being. Eternal in your destiny. It doesn't matter whether you live in the President's mansion or a pauper's hovel. Whether you wear the purple of royalty or the rags of poverty, you are an offspring of God! And, you are precious in his sight.

A miserable mendicant from skidrow, who had been struck down by an automobile, was brought into Cook County Hospital in Chicago. As they washed him up and prepared him for emergency surgery, a young intern fresh out of medical school came in, looked at him and said, "Just another worthless bum."

The man rallied when he heard those words and murmured,
"No, doc, your wrong. I may be a bum, but I'm not worthless.
Jesus died for me, too."

My friend, remember who you are. Not the result of a biological accident, but of a thought of God. Remember that your life and the life of the whole wide world was his idea in the first place. When he made you he made something unique and irreplaceable. Therefore, to do harm or to destroy this masterpiece of God is to sin grievously, not only against yourself, but against the God who made you and in whose image you were formed.

The Lord Jesus Christ didn't die for bugs and brutes, he died for immortal souls who have sinned, but still bear the stamp of the creator upon their lives. Remember who you are! The crown jewel in God's creation. The object of his divine thought and love. And then, remembering who you are -- "Love your neighbor as yourself," and thou shalt not kill.

But, you are more than a creation of God, by his grace and your faith in the atoning work of Christ,

You Are Now a Child of God.
I suppose the widest gulf in all the world is the one which exists between what we are and what we ought to be. The Christian faith does not deny this. To the contrary, the Christian faith acknowledges this disparity, and then goes on to declare that God has done something wonderful to correct it.
"The wages of sin is death . . . but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord . . . and, as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the (children) of God."

The most tragic deformity under the sun is found in the fact that having been created by God, having been endowed with attributes and qualities like those of God himself, we have forgotten who we are. We have subjected this marvelous mechanism to the cancerous curse of sin.

There is a play -- I've forgotten the name of it -- about a young man of rare physical charm who, instead of using this gift for good, subjected himself to a life of reckless dissipation. The inevitable deterioration set in, but it happened so gradually the young man was hardly aware of it.
One day, in a kind of revery, he seemed to stand in the entry hall of his boyhood home gazing up the wide stairway that led to his room. As he watched, in imagination, there appeared at the top of the stairs above him, a little boy with an innocent shining face. Gazing into the sweetness of that happy countenance, the man suddenly cried bitterly,
"I was once that little boy!"

And so were you! You came into this world with the sweet and guileless innocence of a little baby. That innocence was clouded and besmirched by sin,
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
As a result you are asking,
"Is there any hope for a person like me? Is there any way for a person
who has subjected his life to the hot and relentless demands of sin to
become the little child he use to be?"
And the answer comes back, a sad and lamentable -- no!

No, you can never become the child you used to be. The wages of sin is death. That special loveliness, that iridescent innocence, is gone forever. But the gospel of Christ offers something more wonderful. For, while it does not promise you can become the child you used to be, it does promise that, by the grace of God, you can become the adult you were meant to be!

The glory of the Christian faith is that --
"God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us."
You are loved by God inspite of your sin. You are the central object of his divine affection. You are the reason he gave his Son to die upon the cross.

God wagered the hole wide world upon the fact that you are worth redeeming! Oh, my friend, do you not see how important you are to God? You are somebody! You are the central object of his redeeming love. God loves you so much he wants you to be with him forever. And, when you stop and think of the love he expressed for you in the giving of his Son that you might be saved, certainly you must be able to see that there is no room for false humility which allows you to take a cheap and shabby view of yourself.

You are loved by God! You must not subject yourself to the destructive power of sin.
You are loved by God! You must not misuse that marvelous mechanism for which Christ died.
You are loved by God! You must not deny that special loveliness which is yourself.
You are loved by God! And, being loved by him you must treat yourself accordingly
.
Remember who you are! An immortal soul for whom Christ died, and one to whom God has given the power to become his child. Then, remembering who you are
"Love your neighbor as yourself . . ."
And thou shalt not kill.

If you are not one of God's children you can become one right now. It's simply a matter of your accepting God's free gift. The Bible says,
"As many as received (Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord) to them God gave the
right to be called his child."
Becoming is a process. Like every other process, the process of becoming has a point of beginning. The point of beginning in the process of becoming a child of God is what the Bible calls, being born again. Being made new. Being converted.

It may be that you are here this morning hoping to become a child of God, but you have never, at any time or at any place, decisively begun the process. You believe in Jesus. But you have never accepted him as your Savior. You have never invited him into your heart. You have never turned yourself over to his care and control. Why not do so this morning? Right now, right where you are, bow your head before God and invite Jesus to be your Savior. Pray the prayer which causes the angels in heaven to sing,
"God be merciful to me a sinner and save me for Jesus's sake."
If you do that, you will become God's child forever!

I urge you to do it. For, if you are a child of God, if you know Christ as your Savior, if you have been born again, then you are not only a child of God, an heir of God and a joint heir together with Christ, you are --.

An Heir of God
Have you ever stopped to realize what it means to be an heir of God? It means you are the direct recipient of every good and perfect gift the infinite mind of God can devise. It means there is not one moment of need he will not supply.

Caught up in the wonder of this incredible inheritance, the apostle Paul, who had been stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, robbed, imprisoned, lost in the wilderness, and finally killed, said,
"I recognize that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18).

On another occasion, while a prisoner of Nero, bound by chains, broken by circumstances, threatened by death, Paul put his pen to parchment and wrote the church at Phillippi a letter extolling the goodness and mercy and grace of God. After listing the joyous provisions which God had made for those who are his own, Paul climaxed it by saying,
"But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Oh my friend, here is the solving word for those periods of discouragement and despondency which try to overcome you. Here is the answer to those tragic and troublesome circumstances which often surround you. Trials may beset you, troubles may oppress you, temptations may distress you, but here is the heart and hand of Almighty God reaching out to supply your every need. As the poet has said,.
"Tenderly he watches over you
Every step, every mile of the way.
As a mother watches o'er her baby,
He is with you every hour of the day.

When you're weak, when you're strong;
When you're right, when you're wrong;
In your joy or your pain,
When you lose or when you gain.

Tenderly he watches over you
Every step, every mile of the way."

Shortly after World War II began, my father, who at that time had spent nearly twenty years in rescue mission work in Oakland, California, felt called by God to begin a Christian Serviceman's Center. He had seen thousands of guys and gals in uniform, wandering aimlessly along the streets of our city. Many of them were away from home for the first time. Many were not quite able to handle the numerous temptations placed in their path.

One day, while dad and I were driving through the Oakland foothills, he mentioned his idea to me. I told him it was a great idea but, being a practical fellow, I said,
"Dad, were are you going to get the money? You've barely made ends meet at
the mission. To run a Serviceman's Center will take thousands of dollars. Where
will it come from?"

He said,
"Son, stop the car for a moment, I want to show you something."
I parked the car and we go out. He pointed to the Oakland hills which rose up behind us and said,
"Son, do you see those hills?" "Yes."

Turning around and pointing to the spectacular panorama that lay beneath us, Oakland in the foreground, the gleaming white buildings of San Francisco piled up on her many hills like pieces of confetti stretching off into the distance, the Golden Gate to the right, and behind it the blue waters of the Pacific. As I looked at this magnificent site my father seemed to catch it all up into one sweeping gesture of his hand, and he said,
"Son, do you see all that?" "Yes." "Well, all of that belongs to my Father.
I can't worry about the money, son. I am the child of a king.
My father is rich in houses and land. He has promised to supply all my needs."

And do you know something? God did! Dad started with nothing. He didn't even have the proverbial shoestring.
The first Center was a couple of rooms up over the mission on skidrow. It was kind of crummy, and I was ashamed to invite anyone in. But I knew it meant a lot to dad, and so, on Saturday night my buddy and I would take our cars and head off into the center of town. When we saw a bunch of sailors or soldiers who didn't seem to have anything to do, we'd invite them to a party, and they came.

In less than a month the two rooms over the mission weren't large enough, so dad rented a hall. Don't ask me where he got the money, I don't know. By some miracle of divine mathematics it all worked out. Dad put every ounce of spiritual and physical strength he had into it, and God did the rest. Somehow, someway, someone was there to help.

Dad never had more than he needed. I mentioned that to him once and he said,
"Well, son, God didn't promise to supply my wants. He promised
to supply my needs."

During the next few years the Center moved two more times, each time to a larger quarters. During the war over a million and a half guys and gals found a home away from home in The Christian Fellowship Center. Through the personal workers who were on duty twenty-four-hours a day, thousands upon thousands of lonely servicemen and women found a friend who sticks closer that a brother, as they came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

"You are heirs of God and joint heirs together with Christ," said Paul.
"For my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and
glory by Christ Jesus."

I don't know what's troubling you today. But God knows. I can't supply all your needs. But God can. He asks that you come to him with your concerns. All he wants in return is for you to cast your cares upon him, for he cares for you.

The answer doesn't lie in running away. It lies in taking a turn toward the Father and home. You are an heir of God, and through him you are more than conqueror.
"Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can't tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible
And he can do what no other friend can do."

Love your neighbor as yourself. Self-love is to be the thermostat controlling all of your emotional reactions to other people. So, remember who you are.

Remember -- you are a creation of God. Divine in your origin. Wondrous in your being. Eternal in your destiny.
Remember -- you are a child of God. The object of his redeeming love. An immortal soul for whom Christ died. A treasure of such priceless worth. God wants you to be with him forever.
Remember -- you are an heir of God. And therefore, the recipient of every good and perfect gift which the loving heart of the heavenly father can devise.

Remember who you are, and then remembering who you are, love your neighbor as yourself.
"And thou shalt not kill."